Yes, the VA is without doubt the model for American healthcare

Well, let’s consider their actual track record:

Shot:

The Pentagon reported Friday that 265 active-duty service members killed themselves last year, continuing a trend of unusually high suicide rates that have plagued the U.S. military for at least seven years.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/04/01/us-military-suicides-remain-stubbornly-high/82518278/

Chaser:

A VA suicide hotline designed to help distressed vets, at times instead sent their calls to a voicemail message, provided no immediate assistance, and did not even return some calls, according to a new report. … The crisis center was recently the focus of a HBO documentary praising the workers’ tireless efforts to help vets. The film, “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1,” even won an Oscar last year.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/18/us/va-crisis-line-report/

A former Marine intelligence officer told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Wednesday he waited more than a year for care, and when he finally saw a VA psychiatrist, he was prescribed a medication for depression. When he reacted poorly to the prescription, however, he was not able to make a follow-up appointment for another two months.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/veterans/2015/10/28/report-vets-still-face-long-waits-mental-health-treatment/74734474/

Two former Minneapolis VA employees … say they were instructed to falsify records to make it look as if veterans were canceling or delaying appointments, a practice they allege allowed VA managers to hide long appointment delays. … Investigators have said efforts to cover up or hide delays were systemic throughout the agency’s network of nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics.

http://www.twincities.com/2014/09/22/minneapolis-va-to-investigate-alleged-cover-up-involving-patients-death/

When Anthony McCann opened a thick manila envelope from the Department of Veterans Affairs last year, he expected to find his own medical records inside. Instead, he found over 250 pages of deeply revealing personal information on another veteran’s mental health.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/12/30/461400692/patient-privacy-isn-t-safeguarded-at-veterans-medical-facilities

One complaint against an employee found they accessed a veteran’s medical records—in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—61 times. The employee even posted the private medical information on her Facebook page and “discussed it with her friends.” … The only punishment this employee received was a two-week suspension.
http://observer.com/2016/01/this-couldnt-have-been-a-more-scandalous-week-for-the-veterans-affairs-department/

Katherine Mitchell, a VA doctor in Phoenix, said that shortly after she complained to the Veterans Affairs inspector general about safety concerns, the department punished her, citing patient privacy.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/va-uses-patient-privacy-to-go-after-whistleblowers-critics-say/2014/07/17/bafa7a02-0dcb-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html

The Department of Veterans Affairs has not listened to whistleblowers or protected them, and it also has not punished employees who tried to stop or interfere with whistleblowers, according to a letter the U.S. Office of Special Counsel sent to the White House and Congress on Thursday.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/us/veterans-affairs-whistleblower-osc-findings/

Last May, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accused the department of “unchecked incompetence” and ordered it to overhaul the way it provides mental health care and disability benefits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us/recent-california-suicides-highlight-failures-of-veterans-support-system.html?_r=1

A study by a VA researcher found that veterans with PTSD were nearly twice as likely to be prescribed opioids as those without mental-health problems. They were more likely to get multiple opioid painkillers and to get the highest doses.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304672404579181840055583388

We gathered data from five of the states with the most veterans. We found they are dying of accidental narcotic overdoses at a 33 percent higher rate than non-veterans.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/veterans-dying-from-overmedication/

“Veterans are now required to see a prescriber every 30 days, but at the El Paso VA, they are unable to get an appointment, so they go without, or they do something they shouldn’t — they buy them on the street.”

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/veterans/2015/06/10/va-prescription-drugs-street-opiods/71026580/

“The VA let them get wound up on all these drugs and now they cut them off completely. … These guys are coming into my office and they are a goddamn mess and the VA is just blowing them off.”
http://www.startribune.com/cut-off-veterans-struggle-to-live-with-va-s-new-painkiller-policy/311225761/

HT: Tig (thanks, brother).

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